PEOPLE living in Cranleigh could end up with higher tax bills if the parish council takes over more of Waverley’s responsibilities.

That was the warning from Cllr Ken Reed as the authority considered whether or not to register an interest in taking on specific areas of grounds maintenance, along with management of Waverley-owned playgrounds and the village’s skate park from the borough council.

He was in a minority, though, as most members agreed to express an interest prior to putting together a business case for presentation at a future meeting.

The areas considered suitable for the parish council to take responsibility for are the children’s playgrounds at Lashmere and Queensway, as well as the skate park and possibly some grassed areas.

The village’s main recreation area, at Snoxhall, is owned by the parish council.

The borough council has invited Waverley’s parishes to consider taking over responsibility for certain parts of their areas as its main grounds maintenance contract comes up for renewal next year. The parish is already considering the possible takeover of the village’s public toilets.

A report produced by the authority’s grounds manager, Nick Barnett, showed there will be a financial impact on the authority, with the need for investment in extra equipment.

The council would expect to get some income from Waverley as a result of taking on the extra responsibilities, but one concern was whether or not this would cover the cost of investment in new equipment.

But the council’s clerk, Pauline Whitehead, told the meeting: “All we have to do is register our interest and in the meantime do some more work on the impact on the staff.”

However, Cllr Reed said: “When I read through this and what Nick was saying would have to happen if we were to take this on, alarm bells started ringing.

"Something like this pays for itself because of economies of scale, which we do not have.

“I do not think we will ever get to the position where it will pay for itself,” he said, expressing doubts as to whe-ther the transfer of responsibilities would actually be of benefit to the community.

“Waverley can divest itself of these responsibilities, but I bet it doesn’t make an appropriate reduction in council tax.

"We will have to add it to our precept and therefore residents will be paying more,” said Cllr Reed, who added that he could not see how it would be cheaper for Waverley to pay the parish.

Council chairman, Cllr Brian Ellis, said: “I guess this is the Big Society coming to Cranleigh – local services being provided for local people and local people deciding on the standard of what they would like to see.”

He said other parish councils which, unlike Cranleigh, do not have their own grounds staff, had already made approaches about the authority taking on maintenance work once their own contracts run out.

“As Nick said, there will be a need for new equipment and possibly extra staff, but I think this is an opportunity which should not be turned down.

“If we register an interest we can at least explore it and if we find it beyond the parish council we can say no,” he said.